History and current status of the TIPS
The beginning of the TIPS methodology is closely associated with the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. In the 1980s, a research group on this topic was formed around Prof. Dr. Martin Rössle and Prof. Dr. Gerd Richter. In 1988, together with Prof. Dr. Julio Palmaz, who had developed an expandable metal stent, the world's first TIPS procedure in humans was successfully carried out in Freiburg. The procedure and the technical implementation were optimized in the following years, so that by 1995 more than 500 patients had been treated. Several high-profile studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine provided the scientific basis for establishing the TIPS system as a standard therapy for the complications of portal hypertension. For this groundbreaking work, Prof. Dr. Martin Rössle received the highest award of the European Liver Society EASL in 2022, the Innovation Award. An EASL School"Decompensated portal hypertension: TIPS from A to Z" took place from July 1 - 2, 2022 in Freiburg.
Under the direction of Dr. Michael Schultheiß and PD Dr. Dominik Bettinger, around 100 TIPS procedures are currently performed annually in the interdisciplinary gastrointestinal endoscopy department at the Department of Medicine II. In addition to TIPS procedures, transjugular liver biopsies, transjugular pressure measurements and local lysis treatments for portal vein thrombosis are also performed. The working group led by Dr. Schultheiß and PD Dr. Bettinger works on scientific issues relating to TIPS and conducts training events.
First human TIPS procedure at the Freiburg University Medical Center in 1988
Image material: Schultheiß M. et al, 30 years of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) - review and perspective. Z Gastroenterol 2020;58:877-889